In The Air Tonight, Part 4

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Tossing the phone up onto the bed, he gave Sydney his full attention. Even though his rational side realized she couldn't hear him, he kept talking to her. "It's going to be all right, Syd. Help is on the way. You just hang in there. You can do it…" If anything, the words were meant to calm him as much as her. He could feel his sanity being stretched thinner and thinner with every second that ticked by.

Unknown and unnoticed, tears ran down Michael Vaughn's cheeks. There was no way to hold his emotions in check any longer. In his worst nightmares, he'd imagined what this moment might be like…but he'd been wrong. The real thing was a thousand times worse than any nightmare. She was slipping away from him and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

- - -

Jack Bristow was terrified. While he would never admit it to anyone (not even himself), Michael Vaughn reminded him of himself when he were younger. He was smart, determined, had a certain disregard for rules; but was a top-notch agent who only had one flaw: He loved Sydney. He loved her and would do anything for her. So to hear Vaughn, normally so calm and in control, barely able to form words…he knew this was bad.

Within three minutes of Vaughn's phone call, he was screeching to a halt in front of Sydney's house. Not even taking time to shut his car door, he jumped out and ran up the front walk.

The horror of the gore and destruction that confronted him almost unnerved him, but he held on to his grim determination to help his only daughter. "Vaughn!"

"In here… Jack, hurry!" came the choked response.

Jack bolted down the hallway into Sydney's bedroom. The crumpled, bloody heap of Sydney's childhood friend lay on the floor near him. Ignoring it, he turned and met the desperate, wild eyes of Michael Vaughn. Vaughn himself was bleeding from several cuts in his hands and the legs of his pants were shredded in several places around the knees from the broken glass all around him. His shirt, pants, hands, face and even hair was streaked with blood, but Jack doubted that Vaughn had even noticed. Indeed, Vaughn looked as though he were beyond rational thought.

Standing over him, he said flatly, "Where's Tippin?"

Vaughn looked up at Jack in confusion. He saw Jack's lips moving, but couldn't make out the words.

Jack reached down and grabbed Vaughn by his upper arms and shook him hard. "Where is Tippin!?" he repeated.

"He's…he's in the bathtub…"

Jack turned on his heel and strode to the bathroom. Kneeling before the porcelain tub, he checked for a pulse (still thready and weak) and then moved the bloody towels aside to check Will's wound. One, clean but deep stab wound in his right abdomen. A small rivulet of blood trickled from under his body to the drain.

Standing back up, he stalked back into the bedroom. Vaughn hadn't moved. He sat, holding Sydney's hand, whispering comfort to her over and over. Grabbing Vaughn under the arm, Jack forced the shaken man to his feet and forcibly turned him to face him. "Go help Tippin," he told Vaughn.

Vaughn was sure he hadn't heard Jack properly. "What?"

"You need to go help Tippin. He's bleeding badly and needs pressure applied to his wound."

Vaughn flatly refused. "I'm not leaving her."

"Agent Vaughn, you have an fellow officer down and in need of medical assistance," Jack insisted coldly.

"I'm not leav-…"

Jack shook Vaughn again, hard. He understood that kind of determination; hell, he'd defined it. But Jack knew Vaughn needed to do something else, or he was going to lose it entirely, and Vaughn needed to be more in control when the team arrived. "You are not doing her any good in here. You're barely coherent; you're losing blood yourself. If you want to do something, then help save her friend's life."

Vaughn looked uncertainly back at Sydney. "But.."

Jack shook Vaughn once more, forcing him to make eye contact. Once he knew he had the young man's full attention, he said earnestly, "I know you…love her…but she's my daughter."

A silent understanding passed between the two men; Vaughn acquiesced with a short nod and headed toward the bathroom.